DEBASHISH SEN, chief electoral officer of West Bengal, met readers of The Telegraph to answer their queries. Participants included Surajit Neogy, Rajesh Jaiswal, Raja Kar, Sourish Misra, Gopal Krishna Chakraborty, M.L. Ray, Tarun Chowdhury, Diptimoy Ghosh, Sandip Banerjee and Ishan Deb Chatterjee

Diptimoy Ghosh: During revision of electoral rolls, what does one do if the designated officer is not present in the booth during office hours? I visited a booth between 11.30 am and 1 pm, but could not find the designated officer.

Designated officers have to be present in the booths from 10 am to 5.30 pm on working days. If an officer is not present, you can complain to the electoral registration officer.

Diptimoy Ghosh: But what is the government doing to ensure that the designated officers are on duty during office hours?

There are sector officers to supervise booths in a cluster. The sector officers are expected to be in touch with the designated officers. Cases of absenteeism can be taken up with additional electoral registration officers.

The district magistrates and sub-divisional officers are also expected to make random checks at booths. We have issued show-cause notices to 70 officials across Bengal for absenteeism.

Surajit Neogy: There are allegations that applications for inclusion of names in the electoral rolls are processed in a biased manner. What do you have to say?

The electoral registration officer or the additional electoral registration officer decides the fate of an application after conducting a hearing and taking into account the evidence produced. The officer has to provide reasons for rejecting an application.

Those who feel their names have been left out deliberately can complain to the district magistrate, additional district magistrate or the electoral officer of Calcutta after the final publication of rolls.

Rajesh Jaiswal: Can a person vote without carrying his Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC)?

If you have been allotted an EPIC, you must carry it. Those who haven?t got their EPIC made, can carry any of the 17 prescribed documents to establish their identity.

Diptimoy Ghosh: I?ve recently moved to a house in the same Assembly constituency. How do I get the change recorded in the electoral rolls?

When you move within the same Assembly constituency, you have to apply on form 8A. After revision of the electoral rolls, visit your EPIC centre to get your card updated.

Ishan Deb Chatterjee: Can candidates actually win by huge margins, as sometimes happens in Bengal?

If you are referring to electoral malpractice, it is our job to ensure free and fair polls. If rigging does occur in a particular area, re-polling can be ordered there. The problem arises when no one objects until the counting is over. Action has to be taken before counting starts.

If you have an allegation of malpractice, you can appeal in a court of law along with the evidence. If you report malpractice to observers from outside the state on the day of the poll, election in the area can be cancelled. But this has to be done before counting starts.

Tarun Chowdhury: Voters have to serially sign the identification column before casting their vote. Since votes are also recorded serially in the Electronic Voting Machine, can I be later identified as the voter who voted for party X?

The Electronic Voting Machine doesn?t record votes serially. Hence, your secrecy is assured.

Rajesh Jaiswal: The Bengal section of the Election Commission?s website is in a bad shape. The page doesn?t open most of the time.

I don?t know when you last visited the website, but at the moment, it is working fine.

Concluded